At the European Parliament’s Committee on Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE), the European Commission defended its new delegated act defining ‘low-carbon’ hydrogen, presented on 8 July before the summer recess (see EUROPE 13677/21).
During two discussions on the subject, MEPs voiced their criticisms and concerns, and questioned the EU’s wider policy on the development of renewable and low-carbon hydrogen.
“The industry is highly sceptical, and the demand side is pretty much saying it’s not there”, argued Christian Ehler (EPP, German).
He also pointed out that the EU had not come close to achieving its target of 6 GW of installed renewable energy electrolyser capacity by 2024, noting that less than 3 GW is under construction and 0.6 GW in operation.
Daniel Obajtek (ECR, Polish) acknowledged the improvements made to the delegated act, but also felt that it was far too restrictive for future investments.
On the contrary, Michael Bloss (Greens/EFA, German) regretted that the delegated act on low-carbon hydrogen could potentially create a brake on the development of green hydrogen.
For Thomas Pellerin-Carlin (S&D, French), it is important not to fall behind the United States in terms of competitiveness when it comes to hydrogen.
According to the head of the European Commission’s ‘Decarbonisation’ unit, Kitti Nyitrai, it is above all essential to take action on electricity prices throughout Europe.
“As long as we don’t have competitive electricity prices in certain regions, we will really have to invest more [...] in renewables, nuclear power and clean energy sources so that hydrogen production can become competitive”, she explained.
Nuclear PPA
Several MEPs questioned the Commission once again on its decision to wait before presenting a methodology for calculating the electricity emissions intensity of hydrogen produced from electricity generated under a ‘power purchase agreement’ (PPA) with a nuclear power plant.
According to Mechthild Wörsdörfer, Deputy Director General at the European Commission’s DG Energy, “we do not currently have the necessary capacity or methodology for PPAs and nuclear hydrogen. That’s why we’ve set a deadline to start work on it as soon as possible”.
Head of Unit Kitti Nyitrai reiterated the Commission’s intention to launch a consultation by the end of June 2026 to develop the methodology.
She also indicated that the Commission had launched a study to closely monitor the development of the hydrogen market.
EU-US agreement
Responding to questions from MEPs on the details of the EU-US agreement, Ms Wörsdörfer pointed out that of the $750 billion in expected energy purchases (see EUROPE 13689/1), gas accounted for the smallest part. “This includes investments in gas, LNG, oil, biofuels and nuclear power. Most of this investment is in nuclear fuel, etc.”, she explained.
Finally, responding to concerns about the EU methane regulation (see EUROPE 13453/26), the Director promised that the methodology to be applied under this regulation will not be “in any way destructive to industry” or in conflict with the provisions of the delegated act on low-carbon hydrogen. (Original version in French by Pauline Denys)